CHAPTER 38
Kennedy went blind for an instant. Breastman's Hail Mary blast had lit the campsite up like a sun for less than a second, but still, everyone and everything inside was dazed. She blinked the tears out of her eyes, frantically looking for the monster that had been stalking towards her, all but ignoring her corrosive stream. She found it, mere feet from her, a smoking, mewling wreck.
She could feel Dawn's awe through her link, alongside Cait's fury, which hadn't abated since she'd seen Hotglue downed. The Amazon's fury fed the inferno of wrath that welled within Kennedy as she looked down at the half-dead monster before her.
"There was only supposed to be one of you," she hissed, thrusting the end of her staff into its throat. "Let's remedy that."
She released as much corrupting acid rot as she could muster from the tip of her staff. The beast's eyes went wide, and it frantically clawed at its throat. Smoke began to seep from the sides of its mouth, as its throat swelled and burst. It spewed acid and blood as it gurgled, choked, and finally, died.
"RaaaaAHHHHHHHHHH!" Kennedy yelled, wrenching her staff free and charging the Coonbeasts that had begun to advance on her. Seeing their leader executed, they actually managed to look afraid. It wouldn't save them.
She channeled corruption through her staff, and the monsters' flesh rotted away, tearing like wet paper as she swung, death following her every move. Kennedy didn't get to keep her mother's competence when the link was broken, but nothing could take away the muscle memory of months of practice at the level of a master.
She spun through the beasts, reaping freely as they began to flee. Her goal was not them, but the other fallen monster that had saved her life. After her eyes had cleared, she'd seen Breastman fall limp, passed out from the pain and shock of losing that many arms at once. Rose shot down from above her, harassing the Coonbeasts as she reached Breastman. The little monster's breath was ragged, and his body shivered.
Shit. Maybe that crazy healing factor can get overloaded. Need Lira to look into that. Okay, Dawn, let's see if that training paid off.
Kennedy had great affinity for nature magic when she gained access to it through Dawn, but only for the aspects of it related to rot and decay. Dawn had said it was a personality conflict, which, given Kennedy's aesthetic preferences, she had kind of taken as a compliment. That being said, access to things like healing were often more valuable than any amount of offense, so Dawn had been coaching her.
She'd had her reaching out to trees, grass, animals and trying to feel the growth, vibrancy, and life force, instead of the constant cycle of cell death that all living things created simply by existing. Results were mixed, but Kennedy reached out for that life in Breastman now. She found it alien, and while it pulsed with strength it was held back, compressed, unable to surge out and rebuild him like it should.
Hesitantly, she dropped her link with Cait. She knew it was risky, but Rose was watching her back and she had a hunch. Kennedy reached out to Breastman's mind, drawing a sharp breath of surprise, and if she was being honest, fear. A tight, iron wall of control wound around a ball of pulsing primal hunger that constantly lashed at its cage. Kennedy hadn't seen this level of emotional control from anyone but her mother, and hadn't seen anything like the hunger…. ever.
Damn. Cait said he was having difficulties, but this could be bad.
Even worse was the fact she thought she was going to have to poke a hole in that control to heal him.
I wonder if he even knows he's doing it. He always seems so laid back, it seems impossible that this would be a conscious effort. Why didn't I pick up on this before? Is it because he's out cold?
Tentatively, she reached out to the wall around the primal, ravenous hunger. With care, she carved a sort of emotional valve into it, just a pinprick really. The raw emotion slammed into the wall at that point, forcing itself through in a jetstream. Panicking, Kennedy took it, using it to direct life force like Dawn had taught her, jump starting Breastman's regeneration like a defibrillator. Then, she brought all of her focus back to plugging that hole, pushing it back and holding the plug like a little Dutch girl with her finger in a dyke.
Man, that saying did not hold up, she thought as sweat broke out on her forehead.
The healing was done, now she needed stability. She broke off her link with Dawn, reeling a bit from changing partners so often, and reached out to Cait. The beautiful blonde accepted her link, sending fierce jubilation across it, which Kennedy took as a good sign. The emotion further resolved into a feverish feeling of pursuit, which wasn't.
Kennedy was too far into Breastman's mind to see. Instead, she reached out for Cait, but found her getting farther and farther away. All at once, the link snapped, and Kennedy cried out as the pressure became almost too much to bear. She felt another presence next to her, one that grabbed a hold of Breastman's one remaining tentacle. Kennedy reached out, finding Gwyn, roiling panic and concern smashing about within her at seeing the little monster in dire straits.
Damn, how'd she bully Samsara into this?
Regardless, the… whoa, the love Gwyn was pouring out towards Breastman was exactly the kind of mental building material Kennedy needed.
She reached out to the human part of Breastman's mind, coaxing it into consciousness. She felt it begin to panic as he took stock of the situation, but she sent waves of a calm she didn't feel, echoed by Gwyn, who added warm, quiet acceptance, a feeling of cherishing that Kennedy herself had felt far too few times.
Quietened, she directed him towards the wall he'd built. His surprise told him all she needed to know about whether or not it had been a conscious construction. She guided him, feeling his mind following hers as they smoothed over the cracks in the wall that held the beast inside of him back. She didn't know how long they worked, but the sky was grey with dawn when she opened her eyes.
She screamed. It was only there for an instant, but looking out at her from inside of Breastman's maw, had been an eye. It was larger than should have been possible, with an iris made of a void full of stars that kept winking out. She felt it hate her, for an instant, before it vanished like the lid had shut. Breathing hard, she found herself steadied against Gwyn's breast while the techie looked down at her with concern.
"Forget what my boyfriend looks like while you were in there?" Gwyn asked, with a hesitant smile.
It wasn't a good joke, but Kennedy laughed anyway. She needed to.